Usage

Picky has three main uses cases:

• creating requirements files from an existing environment:

  $ picky --update
  Babel 1.3 missing from requirements.txt
  python 2.7.9 missing from conda_versions.txt
  Updating 'requirements.txt'
  Updating 'conda_versions.txt'
  

• ensuring the requirements completely match the packages installed:

  $ picky
  testfixtures 4.1.2 in pip freeze but 4.1.0 in requirements.txt
  Babel 1.3 missing from pip freeze
  python 2.7.9 in conda list -e but 3.4.0 in conda-versions.txt
  readline 6.2 missing from conda list -e
  

• updating the specifications based on the current environment:

  $ picky --update
  testfixtures 4.1.2 in pip freeze but 4.1.0 in requirements.txt
  Babel 1.3 missing from pip freeze
  python 2.7.9 in conda list -e but 3.4.0 in conda-versions.txt
  readline 6.2 missing from conda list -e
  Updating 'requirements.txt'
  Updating 'conda_versions.txt'
  

Return codes

The return code set by picky will be non-zero if the requirements files do not exactly match the packages found in the environment:

$ picky
Babel 1.3 missing from requirements.txt
python 2.7.9 missing from conda_versions.txt
$ echo $?
1

This can be useful in continuous integration environments to check that all packages used in your environment are specified and pinned to specific versions by your requirements files.

Log levels

If you want more information about what picky is doing, run it with a lower log level, such as debug:

$ picky -l debug
2015-05-01 09:08:10 INFO    Using '/path/to/pip' for pip
2015-05-01 09:08:10 INFO    Using 'requirements.txt' for pip
2015-05-01 09:08:10 INFO    Using '/path/to/conda' for conda
2015-05-01 09:08:10 INFO    Using 'conda_versions.txt' for conda

Using with Pip

By default, picky will look for the pip binary on the current $PATH and will look for the requirements in a file called requirements.txt in the current working directory.

Both the location of the pip binary and the requirements file can be specified explicitly by using the --pip and --pip-requirements options, respectively.

Using with Conda

By default, picky will look for the conda binary on the current $PATH and will look for the requirements in a file called conda_versions.txt in the current working directory.

Both the location of the pip binary and the requirements file can be specified explicitly by using the --conda and --conda-versions options, respectively.

A new conda environment can be created from a conda_versions.txt file as follows:

conda create -n <environment name> --file conda_versions.txt

Note

Build numbers, the third section of a conda version specifier, are ignored by picky as these may differ across platforms even though the package version is otherwise identical.

Using with Conda and Pip

When used in a conda environment that also has some packages installed with pip, picky will ensure that both the conda and pip requirements files do not conflict with each other, and that a package will only appear in one or other of the requirements files.